The field of the disclosure relates generally to an apparatus, computer-implemented system, and computer-implemented method used to create a universal wireless platform for asset monitoring which may be used in the monitoring of physical assets and physical systems.
Many known physical assets and physical systems require asset monitoring. Asset monitoring may involve the determination of asset status by identifying asset data including, for example, physical measurements related to assets or asset components, physical location or orientation of assets, and the presence or physical availability of assets. Reliable asset data may be obtained using metrological inspection. As used herein, “metrological inspection” refers to the use of devices or tools to obtain asset data and, in particular, physical measurements. Asset data may describe physical measurements including, for example and without limitation, distance, volume, pressure, and velocity. Alternatively, asset data may describe asset characteristics which require analysis or extrapolation to determine physical measurements. For example, asset data may be optical data which includes a plurality of geographic coordinates in reference to an asset. The optical data may not be immediately discernible as useful physical measurements but computation and extrapolation may yield physical measurements. Metrological inspection may involve the use of metrological inspection devices. Metrological inspection devices may include any device capable of facilitating metrological inspection including, for example, gauges, sensors, and calipers. Some known metrological inspection devices may include computing devices capable of displaying asset data to a user display (e.g., a liquid-crystal display) and storing asset data to a memory device. Some computing devices included with metrological inspection devices may additionally be able to transmit asset data to other computing devices. The computing devices that are capable of transmitting asset data to other computing devices may utilize a variety of communication protocols to transmit asset data.
Many known physical systems and physical assets are monitored and inspected through taking a large plurality of asset data readings. Such monitoring and inspection may be time consuming. Additionally, suitable monitoring and inspection of such physical systems may require computational capabilities which are not immediately available to field inspectors.